Sensitising towards the Disabled article

Share

Last week Subhash Ghai released Yuvvraaj, which is about three brothers who discover each other after the death of their millionaire father. The eldest, Anil Kapoor suffers from ‘˜Williams' syndrome, a condition where the patient has an unusually cheerful demeanour, violent outbursts and passion for music. It is the first instance in a long while when a filmmaker has taken the effort to ‘˜explain' a mental disability rather than just ‘˜show' it.

For many years, Aparna Sen was the only director to portray the disabled in her Bengali and Hindi films. If Paromitar Ek Din dwelt upon schizophrenia, Sati told the tale of a deaf and mute girl's exploitation within her family. 36 Chowringhee Lane starred Geoffrey Kendall as a dementia patient and 15 Park Avenue focused on the trauma of a schizophrenic woman. Even Mr & Mrs Iyer featured a sequence where a co-passenger travels with her paraplegic child on the bus. But barring Sen, who has consciously integrated the autistic within the society, the only time Indian filmmakers seem to remember the physically or the mentally challenged is when the film portrays them as protagonists.

Think of any such film: Rajshri Productions' Dosti spoke about the bonding between a lame and a blind friend, Gulzar's Koshish about a deaf and mute couple living with a blind companion, Mehmood's Kunwara Baap enlightened us about the precautions against polio, Sai Paranjpye's Sparsh and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black, about life without light and Rakesh Roshan's Koi... Mil Gaya about dyslexia, where for a change, the script made special effort to explain the cause and effect of the illness.

It was not so until some time ago. For many years Hindi cinema projected characters as cases of general mental illnesses and, strangely, the audience didn't seem to miss the diagnosis. So whether it was a retarded Guru Dutt singing ‘˜Kya bole Dayima...' in Bahurani or an imprisoned Sanjeev Kumar singing ‘˜Khilona jaankar...' the writer did not feel the need to elaborate on the problem.

Over the years there was more awareness and a gradual improvement in the projection of the disorder as was apparent in Sridevi's portrayal in Sadma and a few years later, in Anil Kapoor's portrayal in Eeshwar.  Filmmakers now made special efforts to research the illness and this was evident in Mahesh Bhatt's Dastak and a few years later, Rajat Mukherjee's Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya depicted relevant symptoms of the permutations and combinations that lead to acute violence and depression in a person.

Gradually, not only did the images of the mentally challenged become more realistic but visible on the Hindi screen. What was further interesting was that these characters were not necessarily linked to the central plot of the story.... To give examples: the imbalanced younger brother of the villain in Aks, a ranting Mahesh Manjrekar in Kaante.

In recent times, cinema has become increasingly sensitive to the disabled issue. More and more films in Hollywood and India seem to explore the complex world of schizophrenia. Rain Man, I am Sam, A Beautiful Mind and the Oscar winner The Aviator, are disturbing tales of a turbulence and isolation.

Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukhtankar have made a highly sensitive Marathi film Devrai on the subject of a mentally challenged mind. The sacred grove or the untouched forest is a spot where diverse nature is protected. Used as a metaphor in today's chaotic world, the film talks about making space for different minds without condemnation or discrimination. Devrai is an insightful journey into the broken structure of a once beautiful mind, today inhabited by delusions and sounds that torment him.

The subject of schizophrenia has captured the interest of the stage as well. I watched two haunting plays, both saluting the human spirit. Amee Trivedi's Dev Na Deedhal in Gujarati about a mentally challenged woman rearing a boy, she found abandoned on a railway platform. The other, Sanjay Goradia's Laali-Leela about Siamese twins stuck on the back. Reflecting the atrocities inflicted by society on the disabled, the stories knock on your conscience, particularly moving is the chilling climax that breaks the bravest of hearts.

In the olden days, filmmakers like Bimal Roy and V Shantaram inspired revolution with thought provoking films like Sujata and Do Aankhen Barah Haath. It's time now for our current crop of filmmakers to champion for the marginalised section rather the special children. Subhash Ghai has made a beginning by taking up the cause of the physically challenged in Iqbaal and speaking for the mentally challenged in Yuvvraaj. Let's hope other directors carry forward the same compassion.

**

Barring Aparna Sen, who has consciously integrated the autistic with society, the only time Indian filmmakers seem to remember the physically or the mentally challenged is when the film portrays them as protagonists. In recent times, Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukhtankar's Marathi film Devrai is an insightful journey into the broken structure of a once beautiful mind, today inhabited by delusions and sounds that torment him.

**